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Priority Substances List Assessment Report for Acetaldehyde

Apendix A Search Strategies Employed for Identification of Relevant Data

Environmental assessment

Data relevant to the asessment of whether acetaldehyde is "toxic" to the environment under CEPA were identified from existing review documents, published reference texts and on-line searches conducted between January and May 1996 of the following databases: Aqualine (Water Research Centre, Buckinghamshire; 1990-1996), ASFA (Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts; 1996), BIOSIS (Biosciences Information Services; 1990-1996), CAB (Commonwealth Agriculture Bureaux; 1990-1996), CESARS (Chemical Evaluation Search and Retrieval System, Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Michigan Department of Natural Resources; 1996), Chemical Abstracts (Chemical Abstracts Service, Columbus, Ohio; 1990-1996), CHRIS (Chemical Hazard Release Information System; 1964-1985), Current Contents (Institute for Scientific Information; 1990-1992, 1996), ELIAS (Environmental Library Integrated Automated System, Environment Canada library; January 1996), Enviroline (R.R. Bowker Publishing Co.; November 1995 - June 1996), Environmental Abstracts (1975 - February 1996), Environmental Bibliography (Environmental Studies Institute, International Academy at Santa Barbara; 1990-1996), GEOREF (Geo Reference Information System, American Geological Institute; 1990-1996), HSDB (Hazardous Substances Data Bank, U.S. National Library of Medicine; 1990-1996), Life Sciences (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts; 1990-1996), NTIS (National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce; 1990-1996), Pollution Abstracts (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, U.S. National Library of Medicine; 1990-1996), POLTOX (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, U.S. National Library of Medicine; 1990-1995), RTECS (Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances, U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; 1996), Toxline (U.S. National Library of Medicine; 1990-1996), TRI93 (Toxic Chemical Release Inventory, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Toxic Substances; 1993), USEPA-ASTER (Assessment Tools for the Evaluation of Risk, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; up to December 21, 1994), WASTEINFO (Waste Management Information Bureau of the American Energy Agency; 1973 - September 1995) and Water Resources Abstracts (U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior; 1990-1996).

A survey of Canadian industry was carried out under authority of Section 16 of CEPA (Environment Canada, 1997d). Companies were required to provide information on uses, releases, environmental concentrations, effects or other data on acetaldehyde that were available to them if they met the trigger quantity of 1000 kg acetaldehyde per year. Reveal Alert was used to maintain an ongoing record of the current scientific literature pertaining to the potential environmental effects of acetaldehyde. Data obtained after January 1999 were not considered in this assessment unless they were critical data received during the 60-day public review of the report (August 14 to October 13, 1999).

Health assessment

Data relevant to the assessment of the potential risks of acetaldehyde to human health were identified through evaluation of existing review documents of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Criteria Assessment Office (U.S. EPA, 1987), the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS, 1995), the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC, 1985, 1987) and the Dutch Expert Committee on Occupational Standards (DECOS, 1993), as well as a review prepared under contract for Health Canada (1996). A survey of Canadian industries was conducted under Section 16 of CEPA, in which companies were required to supply information concerning the use, release, environmental levels and toxicological effects of acetaldehyde (Environment Canada, 1997d). To identify additional relevant exposure and toxicological data, literature searches on acetaldehyde were conducted using the strategy of searching by its name or CAS registry number in the following databases: Canadian Research Index, CCRIS (Chemical Carcinogenesis Research Information System, U.S. National Cancer Institute), Dialog, EMIC (Environmental Mutagen Information Center database, Oak Ridge National Laboratory), GENE-TOX (Genetic Toxicology, Office of Toxic Substances, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), HSDB (Hazardous Substances Data Bank, U.S. National Library of Medicine), IRIS (Integrated Risk Information System, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) and RTECS (Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances, U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health). Its name, registry number and major synonyms were searched in the Toxline (U.S. National Library of Medicine; 1985-1998) and Medline (U.S. National Library of Medicine; 1989-1998) databases. The CAS registry number was searched in the Toxnet (1985-1997) database. The EMBASE database (on-line version of Excerpta Medica, Elsevier Science), from 1985 to 1997, was searched using the name, registry number and major synonyms. Only relevant toxicity data acquired prior to February 1998 and exposure data acquired prior to April 1998 were considered in the determination of whether acetaldehyde is "toxic" to human health.